Wednesday, April 29

There is just something rejuvenating about getting out with the girls. I'm glad they invited me to join them. I'm glad that I didn't give in to my antisocial tendencies. I'm glad I didn't give into the temptation to put on my pajama bottoms and stay home. I'm glad that we had big fun. I'm glad they twisted my arm to stay longer than I had intended.

After lots of laughter and yummy food, we headed to the bowling alley. None of us are great bowlers. Although, some were better than others. There was no real competition but mostly cheering and ribbing each other. That's not to say that I didn't notice that I beat Kenny both games. That has NEVER happened before.

I think the combined winners were Chris and then Robin. Unless there is a left wing (I mean side) winner and that would be William. I believe the results of the playoffs will be decided at a later date by a game of Ms PacMan.

I have to say that a good time was had by all. There was much laughing and talking and joking and ribbing each other. It was great to spend the evening out with friends laughing so hard that it made my side hurt.

Wednesday, April 15

Monday, April 6

Rain had been predicted for most of Sunday but in true meteorologist fashion, there was none. It was good news for the Easter egg hunt. Carly invited her friend Miss M to go with her which was good since Carly was bordering on thinking she was too big for an egg hunt.

There were art projects set up in the fellowship hall and cupcakes. There were directions to add certain color jellybeans to your cupcake, each having a special meaning. Carly and M both started with the 5 colors named but quickly had a cupcake full.

In the kitchen, they had the mission project set up. The kids were taking 2 dough balls and making them into a cross. They were going to bake them and the teens were delivering them to shut-ins this week. It was a little amusing to watch them try and handle sticky dough with those cheap plastic gloves on.

Then it was time for the big hunt. I might have gotten a couple of more pictures if the wind had not been blowing 30 miles an hour. I was also cold and Carly didn't want to stand still. In fact, she asked me "can't THAT wait until AFTER the hunt is over".

At one point I hear some parents telling their children to get out of the hedge because there is poison ivy. I go around the corner to find Carly squeezed in between the hedge and the church hunting....Carly, didn't you hear everyone talking about poison ivy? (Miss it-took-us-all-fall-including-3-doctor's-visits to get rid of it the last time) but Moooooom, there are still eggs back there that no one can get to. No, really?

Saturday, April 4

I tend to overplan when I invite others over. I think about a menu, I think about new recipes to try, I think about what we have done before, I think about dishes vs paper products, I think about cleaning, I think about buying a new candle for the bathroom. Kenny doesn't. We are either free and up for company or we're not. We are good for each other.

Thursday night after we made it home from the basketball game and gotten Carly in the shower, it was 8:30. Kenny asks if we want to invite some people over tomorrow night for burgers? What? That's not enough time to plan (worry). That's not enough time to invite people. That's not enough time to plan food and get to the grocery. That's not enough time to clean the bathroom much less buy a new Easter hand towel.

Turns out...it is plenty of time for a house full of friends that surprisingly didn't have plans and were excited about getting out of the house and spending a relaxing evening with friends.

We had a house full including 7 sweet girls. They showed up with bikes and scooters and played for hours in the driveway and cove. When they weren't playing out front, they were in the back taking turns on the rope swing. Someone brought glow bracelets and one time all you could see in the backyard was a bunch of little glowing circles moving around.

The youngest of the crew was initially scared of the dog, the fire in the fire pit, all the people, noise and I think, pretty much being at my house. By the end of the night she was crying because she didn't want to go home and thought she might just spend the night. I think it was a success.

We laughed so much that a couple times the kids came in to check on us. One of them came in and asked was everything okay. We asked if we were too loud. She said that she couldn't hear us, but that she could see her dad through the window and he was so red that she thought he was going to explode. There was lots of joking that I think will be inside jokes for years to come. We decided that men & women's bucket lists are MUCH different and that you should be VERY afraid of what pictures from your college years end up on facebook!

Elizabeth made the comment "I don't think there is anybody, anywhere, that can be having any more fun than we are!" I love that.

Thursday, April 2

I didn't stop reading but I stopped taking notes and I stop blogging about what I had read. But, decided that I really like having a record of what I have read and when. Then I tried to remember what I have read in the last 3 months and had a hard time reconstructing a list. I know there are others and maybe I will remember them later.

Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell......Scarpetta is one of my favorite characters of all time. She is a no nonsense woman that is strong and smart. In my eyes she is a very attractive woman who has a difficult time with relationships and the people she loves the most are a most dysfunctional bunch. In past books there had been events that blew apart some of these relationships and this book tried in a very awkward way to bring them back together. Even though I morned those losses (yep, after a dozen books over a dozen years, you feel like you know them), I think they should have let by-gones be by-gones and stayed gone.

World Without End by Ken Follett......The follow up to Pillars of the Earth. Although it was a sequel it took place a couple hundred years after Pillars so there were no characters in common. Surprisingly, I really liked this one too. Surprisingly, because I usually like my reads to take place in modern day rather than in the 1300's. This one was a little more pessimistic and a couple times I was wishing really hard that good would come to those who I thought needed it. I really like it because there are years and years of character and plot development. You seriously feel the life they were living. Here's hoping that Follet writes another one.

Rough Weather by Robert b. Parker......Again a murder mystery starring Spenser. I found a quote on Book Review site when I was looking for the cover picture that said "The books are meant to be read on an evening when it’s too dark or too cold or too wet to go outside." Isn't that a wonderful picture. Curled up with a blanket on the couch enjoying a great story.

Dark Summer by Iris Johansen.....I keep trying to like Iris Johansen but I need to learn my lesson that her plots always have too much of the super natural for me. This one was no different....characters were members of a "family" that over generations had produced members with special powers including being healers. Yeah, yeah, I know....lesson learned, maybe.

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich.....pure fluff that is always great reading for being a bum whether at the beach like this time or at the lake or at the pool. I love that there will be a part or something said that will make me laugh out loud. Nothing about these are inspiring or thought provoking. It will not expand my vocabulary, in fact I think they are probably written on a 4th grade reading level. It will not teach me about history or science. But they are fun! And, I like it like that!

Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner.....I have liked several of Gardner's previous books but I didn't really like this one. The background included lots of child abduction and abuse and that is just too much for me. And, oh yeah, there were LOTS of spiders. Not ready to mark her off my list yet but hopefully future reads will be more like a previous one Hide that I really enjoyed.

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett....an author that I have seen many recommendations for. I was in my used bookstore and saw this one so I picked it up without even reading the back. Once I picked it up out of my stack to read it, I realized that it was a true story about the relationship of the author and her friend, Lucy. I enjoyed the book - the story and writing and will have to pick up another by Patchett. I also want to read the memoirs of Patchett's friend titled Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy that is referenced numerous times in the book.